Sorry it has taken us so long to get our Africa Mission Trip Update on our blog.
There is so much to tell and we want to share many of the amazing things we got to do.
Our primary mission was to tell about the truth of Jesus Christ. Who He is and what He has done in each of our lives.
As always, God blessed us first of all by providing all we needed to be able to go on this trip. He provided every last penny for both Brad and I to go and Barbie's parents stayed in NC to take care of Emma & Andrew. The kids did so great for Papo and Mamo. They weren't too spoiled when we got back :-) God gave us safe travel there and back. We bonded as a team while we were there and made numerous lasting memories that will last us all for a lifetime. The seven of us who went from our church formed deeper friendships because of the trip.
THANK YOU again to so many of you who prayed for us. Each and every prayer made a difference. Thank you also to those of you who gave financially toward our trip. It was no small task for both Brad and I to go, but when God tells you to go, YOU GO. Each financial gift, no matter what size, helped us to follow in obedience to God's calling.
Ok, enough writing. Pictures, we want pictures. There are many pictures to share. This might be the longest post we have so far. So be it. We want to glorify God by telling you all that He did during our trip.
Picture at Glenn View Baptist Church.
Getting ready to leave for the airport.
Below: Great picture Daniel took on one of our flights.
Most of the flights were good. There was one section of a flight on the way there that was very bumpy and made Barbie quite nervous. This trip was technically Daniel's first plane flight. He had flown when he was 4 years old, but doesn't remember it. The traveling was one of the hardest parts of the trip because it takes so long to get over there. Two overnight flights. Thank goodness for a good neck pillow and sleeping aids. It was nice to have an all day layover in London, but it was sure hard to stay awake. Once we were at our final destination on the way there and on the way back, it was just good to be off a plane.
It was hard for me to leave the kids, but I stood on the fact that I knew I was supposed to be going on this trip. I was totally fine up until they got in the car and started driving away to go back home after dropping us off at the church. The tears came a' rollin'. I knew they were in good hands and God would take care of them all, but the longest I had been away from both kids was overnight once. There were two other Moms with two young kids of their own who went on this trip, so we were there to comfort each other and pray for each other during those down times. Thank goodness for the pictures and videos of the kids we brought with us.
Once we got there we were able to send and receive some quick emails every day. We didn't realize it until we got there, but we were actually able to talk to the kids over the phone for a decent price per minute, so we were able to call twice while we were gone and talk for a very brief period of time.
Ok, enough writing again. Here are some pictures of our lay over in London.
Brad and I were the only ones who had already been to London before, so we were kinda the tour guides (as best as we could remember).
"Horsie" pix for my kids (especially Andrew right now).
He is horse crazy! He says "ride horsie, Mommy."
It's now Sunday and after two overnight flights we are in Africa! We are all so happy to just be off a plane. Below is the mission house we stayed in while in Africa.
Mat & Janet Lawrence - the missionaries we worked with
After a quick orientation at the mission house, our first stop was to the market. Talk about haggling. It was helpful to have the missionaries with us to help us with prices so we didn't get ripped off. Some beautiful, all hand-made stuff. Later that evening we had the opportunity to do e-mail, which was so helpful to hear from my parents on how things were going with the kids. A shower that night was much needed and never felt so good after two days of traveling.
Monday, June 9th - Muvu Game Park
We had the opportunity to go on a game drive/safari and the way things worked out, it started our trip. Below was our bus for the week and John our driver.
The drive there was so interesting. I sat in the very front of the bus. Literally in the very front of the bus. Below are some of the things we saw along the way.
A funeral
In Africa you either walk or ride a bike for transportation. John, our driver, would just honk to tell them to get out of the way if they were too close to the road, but it's more of a polite, "hey, I don't want to hit you, but I'm coming," kinda honk. They don't use their horn there like we do in America.
So amazing what and how much these women carry on their heads. Some of them even carry these loads with a baby wrapped on their back.
It's also amazing what they can put on a simple bike, no mountain bikes here.
A Coke stand in Africa. Well, yes, but that's not why I'm posting this picture. There is a story behind this picture. I was taking so many pictures as we were driving. Rebecca, on our team, asked me to take a picture of the coke sign. So, I did. I didn't realize though, that there was a road block up ahead and one is not supposed to take pictures at a road block. This was going to get interesting. What was going to happen? Were they going to take my camera? Rebecca told me later she thinking, "great, I'm going to have to buy Barbie a new camera." The guard greeted me and I him. We had a discussion about road blocks, taking pictures, etc all the time my heart is pounding in my chest. I kept hoping that one of the missinaries would speak up and help me. I showed him the picture I took and explained the story. I told him I could delete the picture if he wanted me to, hoping that way I could keep my camera. He said, "no, it was fine since there weren't any guards or the road block in the picture." We drove away and I sat quiet and not taking any pictures for a while. Whew! The missionaries told me they didn't intervene because I was handling the situation well and staying calm. I'm glad it looked like that on the outside because that wasn't the case on the inside.
Making mud bricks. They are laying out to dry.
We stopped and ate lunch at a beautiful pottery place in Dedza. It was strange having such a nice place be in the middle of nowhere. Good food. Beautiful pottery.
We entered the Game Park and while we were checking in, we got our first experience with a chimbudze (the potty). They didn't all look like this, but this is the one I took a picture of.
The boat ride across the river to Muvu
This is where we dined. It was all outdoors. During one meal we had monkeys playing in the tree right by us. We heard of stories of elephants walking through while people were eating. Well, anything can just walk through any time, any place.
Speaking of anything can walk through any time, any place. As we were walking to our cabin there were three wart hogs having their dinner. At first, it caught me off guard, and thought, shouldn't I be afraid, shouldn't we walk a different path, but we just kept on walking and they didn't mind us a bit. I don't think that's the way an elephant or hippo would react. The entire time we stayed there we could intermittently hear the hippos "talking" to one another along the river. It sounded as if they were right there at the river bank on our side.
Where Brad and I stayed
Ready for our Safari!
See the blue bird. I loved seeing so many new birds!
We saw so many empala. We decided they weren't endangered any more.
We had this amazing encounter with the elephants. Actually, we kinda got stuck for a while because we had an elephant eating from a tree, so we couldn't move until it was done eating. You don't want to spook an elephant and you don't want it charging anything. At one point while the elephant was eating, he turned and looked right at us, flapped it's ears, and stomped it's foot, which apparently I found out are some signs an elephant shows right before it charges. Thankfully that's all it did and then went back to eating. The missionaries said that's the most fearful they've been on one of those safaris.
Sausage Fruit Tree
Lots of Hippos
He was sitting in a tree right next to where we were eating
We had smores by the campfire. Mmmmm.
There is so much to tell and we want to share many of the amazing things we got to do.
Our primary mission was to tell about the truth of Jesus Christ. Who He is and what He has done in each of our lives.
As always, God blessed us first of all by providing all we needed to be able to go on this trip. He provided every last penny for both Brad and I to go and Barbie's parents stayed in NC to take care of Emma & Andrew. The kids did so great for Papo and Mamo. They weren't too spoiled when we got back :-) God gave us safe travel there and back. We bonded as a team while we were there and made numerous lasting memories that will last us all for a lifetime. The seven of us who went from our church formed deeper friendships because of the trip.
THANK YOU again to so many of you who prayed for us. Each and every prayer made a difference. Thank you also to those of you who gave financially toward our trip. It was no small task for both Brad and I to go, but when God tells you to go, YOU GO. Each financial gift, no matter what size, helped us to follow in obedience to God's calling.
Ok, enough writing. Pictures, we want pictures. There are many pictures to share. This might be the longest post we have so far. So be it. We want to glorify God by telling you all that He did during our trip.
Picture at Glenn View Baptist Church.
Getting ready to leave for the airport.
Below: Great picture Daniel took on one of our flights.
Most of the flights were good. There was one section of a flight on the way there that was very bumpy and made Barbie quite nervous. This trip was technically Daniel's first plane flight. He had flown when he was 4 years old, but doesn't remember it. The traveling was one of the hardest parts of the trip because it takes so long to get over there. Two overnight flights. Thank goodness for a good neck pillow and sleeping aids. It was nice to have an all day layover in London, but it was sure hard to stay awake. Once we were at our final destination on the way there and on the way back, it was just good to be off a plane.
It was hard for me to leave the kids, but I stood on the fact that I knew I was supposed to be going on this trip. I was totally fine up until they got in the car and started driving away to go back home after dropping us off at the church. The tears came a' rollin'. I knew they were in good hands and God would take care of them all, but the longest I had been away from both kids was overnight once. There were two other Moms with two young kids of their own who went on this trip, so we were there to comfort each other and pray for each other during those down times. Thank goodness for the pictures and videos of the kids we brought with us.
Once we got there we were able to send and receive some quick emails every day. We didn't realize it until we got there, but we were actually able to talk to the kids over the phone for a decent price per minute, so we were able to call twice while we were gone and talk for a very brief period of time.
Ok, enough writing again. Here are some pictures of our lay over in London.
Brad and I were the only ones who had already been to London before, so we were kinda the tour guides (as best as we could remember).
"Horsie" pix for my kids (especially Andrew right now).
He is horse crazy! He says "ride horsie, Mommy."
It's now Sunday and after two overnight flights we are in Africa! We are all so happy to just be off a plane. Below is the mission house we stayed in while in Africa.
Mat & Janet Lawrence - the missionaries we worked with
After a quick orientation at the mission house, our first stop was to the market. Talk about haggling. It was helpful to have the missionaries with us to help us with prices so we didn't get ripped off. Some beautiful, all hand-made stuff. Later that evening we had the opportunity to do e-mail, which was so helpful to hear from my parents on how things were going with the kids. A shower that night was much needed and never felt so good after two days of traveling.Monday, June 9th - Muvu Game Park
We had the opportunity to go on a game drive/safari and the way things worked out, it started our trip. Below was our bus for the week and John our driver.
The drive there was so interesting. I sat in the very front of the bus. Literally in the very front of the bus. Below are some of the things we saw along the way.
A funeral
In Africa you either walk or ride a bike for transportation. John, our driver, would just honk to tell them to get out of the way if they were too close to the road, but it's more of a polite, "hey, I don't want to hit you, but I'm coming," kinda honk. They don't use their horn there like we do in America.
So amazing what and how much these women carry on their heads. Some of them even carry these loads with a baby wrapped on their back.
It's also amazing what they can put on a simple bike, no mountain bikes here.
A Coke stand in Africa. Well, yes, but that's not why I'm posting this picture. There is a story behind this picture. I was taking so many pictures as we were driving. Rebecca, on our team, asked me to take a picture of the coke sign. So, I did. I didn't realize though, that there was a road block up ahead and one is not supposed to take pictures at a road block. This was going to get interesting. What was going to happen? Were they going to take my camera? Rebecca told me later she thinking, "great, I'm going to have to buy Barbie a new camera." The guard greeted me and I him. We had a discussion about road blocks, taking pictures, etc all the time my heart is pounding in my chest. I kept hoping that one of the missinaries would speak up and help me. I showed him the picture I took and explained the story. I told him I could delete the picture if he wanted me to, hoping that way I could keep my camera. He said, "no, it was fine since there weren't any guards or the road block in the picture." We drove away and I sat quiet and not taking any pictures for a while. Whew! The missionaries told me they didn't intervene because I was handling the situation well and staying calm. I'm glad it looked like that on the outside because that wasn't the case on the inside.
Making mud bricks. They are laying out to dry.
We stopped and ate lunch at a beautiful pottery place in Dedza. It was strange having such a nice place be in the middle of nowhere. Good food. Beautiful pottery.
We entered the Game Park and while we were checking in, we got our first experience with a chimbudze (the potty). They didn't all look like this, but this is the one I took a picture of.
The boat ride across the river to Muvu
This is where we dined. It was all outdoors. During one meal we had monkeys playing in the tree right by us. We heard of stories of elephants walking through while people were eating. Well, anything can just walk through any time, any place.
Speaking of anything can walk through any time, any place. As we were walking to our cabin there were three wart hogs having their dinner. At first, it caught me off guard, and thought, shouldn't I be afraid, shouldn't we walk a different path, but we just kept on walking and they didn't mind us a bit. I don't think that's the way an elephant or hippo would react. The entire time we stayed there we could intermittently hear the hippos "talking" to one another along the river. It sounded as if they were right there at the river bank on our side.
Where Brad and I stayed
Ready for our Safari!
See the blue bird. I loved seeing so many new birds!
We saw so many empala. We decided they weren't endangered any more.
We had this amazing encounter with the elephants. Actually, we kinda got stuck for a while because we had an elephant eating from a tree, so we couldn't move until it was done eating. You don't want to spook an elephant and you don't want it charging anything. At one point while the elephant was eating, he turned and looked right at us, flapped it's ears, and stomped it's foot, which apparently I found out are some signs an elephant shows right before it charges. Thankfully that's all it did and then went back to eating. The missionaries said that's the most fearful they've been on one of those safaris.
Sausage Fruit Tree
Lots of Hippos
He was sitting in a tree right next to where we were eating
We had smores by the campfire. Mmmmm.
